Stunning photo by @novelhaus
Welcome, welcome to the last day of These Violent Delights readalong. This has been a rollercoaster of a read and I hope you all are ready to finally reach the end of this mystery read. ??ββοΈ
Let us dive right back in, today weβll be reading from chapter 33 till the end.
Please be warned, the following will include spoilers for These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong! Read only if youβve finished the book!
-!SPOILERS!-
Juliette, Kathleen, Roma, Marshall and Benedikt meet near the Labor Daily, they plan on what they are going to do. Kathleen makes a commotion to evacuate, Roma and Juliette head in and find Zhang. Juliette shoots him and he says don’t but Juliette shoots again. They run and jump out the window.
Kathleen comes and asks if its done, but the madness is still there? WHAT?!
Zhang wasn’t the monster! Juliette breaks down, Zhang was innocent. They both tell Benedikt, Marshall and Kathleen to run because they can get arrested. Roma tell her she did what she thought was right. HE LOVES HER!
They are all hiding out, Juliette finds out Roma’s mother didn’t die from an illness but was killed by Scarlet gang. OMG what is Juliette hiding?
Benedikt tries to piece it all togther, Qi Ren, Zhang’s assistant, is the monster! Riots have started in the city, Ben and Marshall head to the hospital to Alisa, and Kathleen to get runners to warn factory owners to evacuate! Roma and Juliette, one last time!
Roma and Juliette running to Zhang’s apartment, Roma kicks the door down and the place is a mess, water everywhere. Like the Huangpu river, Juliette tries to piece it all together.
Someone is there, it’s Paul Dexter, Juliette helps him up, he says the monster attacked him, he lunges and vaccinates Juliette – WHAT! OMG he’s the Larkspur.
His plan wasn’t to kill the gangs off but the Communists, he found the bug in Britian and brought it here to infect Zhang but got Qi Ren instead, so his business could thrive, but then he turned into a monster, the mother host.
The monster emerges, Paul made some alterations to him, the monster runs out, to where all the people are! Paul runs with his briefcase. Juliette heads out to warn the people in its path and Roma after the monster, to the Huangpu river.
Roma tells people to run! He dodges a bullet from Paul but the ground start shaking, thousands of insects erupt from the monster, Paul is immune, so is Juliette – OMG ROMA NOOOO!
Paul attacks Juliette, and pushes her head underwater. She remembers he has a another vial of the vaccine and so easily gets it and stabs him with the needle. They struggle but in the end Juliette shoots him in the head. Gets out of the river and the monster is transforming back into Qi Ren, Juliette shoots him and he’s almost relieved. A huge insect claws out of Qi Ren and Juliette is horrified and blindly shoots but it’s dead.
Roma! He’s okay! They both head to the hospital, to Alisa.
Mother host is now dead, so the madness is over and Alisa is alive. Juliette tries to tell Roma something but as they step into the room they see Tyler with a gun to Alisa’s head – Scarlet members with guns to Ben and Marshall – they look at Juliette with disgust – oh no.
Juliette tries to save the situation, but Marshall grabs the Scarlets gun and shoots him. Tyler shoots Marshall but he’s alive. Roma shot grazes Tyler in the shoulder, OMGGGG!
Juliette says stop and does the only thing that will save them all and break her and Roma apart. She says she was working with him for information nothing more – he doesn’t believe her and then she says a name, a place! His mothers safe house, omgggg! She gave the information to them before she left all those years ago.
Tyler says he’s not leaving until someones dies for the dead Scarlet. Juliette shoves Marshall and points her gun and shoots! Done, eye for an eye, a life for a life!
Roma, Alisa and Ben leave after Juliette threatens them! She’s the only one left.
Epilogue!
Kathleen is searching for the giant insect but they can’t find anything until she comes across Paul’s briefcase and a note that shocks Kathleen!
MARSHALL IS ALIVE!!!!! omg, Juliette has him in a safe house, when she shoved him she gave him Louren’s vial to stop the heart – she then told a Doctor to save his life.
Marshall wants Ben to know he’s alive but Juliette says not yet! my heart.
Juliette leaves and a Scarlet runner gives her the note, a note that was already sent out…
‘Upon my death, release them all.’
WOW! Just wow, that ending was brutal. What has Paul done? I need the next book like right now. How are we all doing after that cliffhanger?
Hope you all enjoyed this book and readalong, I had a blast! Thank you all for joining. ?
Love,
Shaz
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Ok, for a second the author got me and I really thought Juliette had killed Mars!
Yes, I was heartbroken.
I also have a very, very bad feeling about this. I can’t imagine the reaction of Roma and Ben to be anything but violent. I fear for Kathleen.
I can’t wait for the sequel to come out!
I’m sorry the main romance didn’t really click with me, and it was a fundamental part of the book, but I loved the story, the mystery and the cast of characters.
My rating is 4 stars/ββββ
I think I can safely say we’re all in agreement that we need the next book like right now haha
I was soooo waiting for Juliet to use the ‘you look like your dead’ vial. But now I’m worried what Ben might do
And what about Rosalind? The traitor? Tyler? Roma and Juliett? Who’s the one working with Paul? So many questions!
These creepy insects are still out there and it’s not over jet.
I want to know what happens next…
I was 100% sure that Juliette will use that vial she picked up the save Marshall somehow, so I called that one! I definitely did not call the monster’s real identity however.
I’m very afraid what will Roma and Benedikt do, I smell a tragedy in the making. I fear for my Mars+Ben ship, I don’t want Benedikt to die… ? (Plus I really hope neither Roma or Juliette dies, although that might be unreasonable of me, I don’t know.)
Sooo, we haven’t seen if Rosalind is really the spy. I’m a bit suspicious of Kathleen too, to be honest. I mean we see Rosalind mostly from her POV.
It seems there was more to Paul in the end! Not looking forward to having more of these disgusting monsters running around in the city, ugh!
Looking forward to read the sequel! Hope to get a FL edition. β€
My rating is 4 stars out of 5.
I really really hope no one dies tooooo!!!
OMG that ending was BRUTAL and CRUEL!!! I need Our Violent Ends now.
I really did think for a second there that Marshall was dead! And the twist that Paul was the Larkspur . . . was woah! My number 1 theory is that Rosalind is the spy. I hate that Juliette had to pretend she was so cold and unfeeling!!
4 out of 5 stars for me!
Well I said I would finish this on the fifteenth and I’m pretty sure its still the fifteenth in some countries so counting this as a win!
Holy smokes I loved this book so much. When someone (sorry I forget who) mentioned it ending on a cliffhanger I was worried the story wouldn’t wrap up properly, but the main plot was seen to completion with just enough left open to make me desperate to read the next one!
I’m giving the book 5/5 stars, though one thing did bug (HA) me – we got given a source for where the monster and bugs came from (Paul, who I think many of us predicted) but how they actually came to be. Paul just ‘found one’? How did he know how to infect someone with it? What is their actual origin? I’m still hung up on what the doctor said about them being not of this world. My current theory is that they and the monsters are born of human anger and tension which would fit the themes of the book. Basically I’m really hoping this gets explained in Our Violent Ends because it’s honestly the only thing letting the book down for me.
Also, I twigged in a couple of seconds of Marshall getting shot that Juliette would use the fake-death medicine thing to save him but LET ME TELL YOU in those few seconds his was not the only heart that stopped in that chapter. I had a full speaking to myself outloud moment at 1am of “Not *Marshall*!”
Btw thank you Shaz for hosting this! This is the first readalong I’ve joined and I really enjoyed it – can’t wait for the next one!
Thank you so much for joining! I hope you enjoy the next readalong π
I forgot about the ‘look dead’ vial so I was in a total panic when Mars dropped, he was my favourite character out of the whole story and I was like nooooooo! But now I’m super concerned about Ben’s retribution towards Tyler. Juliette really should tell Ben, she’s making a huge mistake by not.
Anyway that ending was so brutal, loved the book am very much looking forward to the next one, I have lots of questions about Paul and how he came about just finding this deadly louse, but I’m thinking we’ll get more of a backstory in the next book.
Also I’m of two minds about Rosealind, is it too obvious that she’s the spy?
For I moment I had a real WTF feeling when Juliette killed Marshall but then I really couldnβt believe is and started thinking about it, thatβs when the βDoodskusβ came in mind!! I didnβt want to read the next book if Marshall was really dead , so now itβs okay ?
The ending reminded me of an horror movie….you think everything is fine, the bad guy is dead (in this case the itchy bugs) but then…. surprise!! They are back!! OH NO!!!!!!! I gave this book βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
My heart stopped so many times while reading this that I was actually concerned for my health for a second – what the cell JUST HAPPENED?
This was such an amazing conclusion to the first book, although I already find it absolutely torturous to wait for the second installment to come out *cries in impatient*
Chloe Gong really got me quite a few times – for a second I thought Roma was really going to die from the madness, then later I thought Juliette really killed Marshall, then in the end I actually thought all the bad stuff was over – SO MANY EMOTIONS xD
This is definitely now one of my favorite retellings Iβve ever had the pleasure to read – thank you so much for featuring it in the November box and for hosting this lovely readalong! <3
Oh no that end was so cruel ? I need to know how the story goes on!!
I wouldβve never guessed the monsters identity so Iβve been really impressed there.
I only found the pacing at the beginning too slow and the romance just couldnβt catch me. Though all up I really enjoyed this book and would give it a 4 out 5 stars
Finished this 5/5! Loved the plot and the setting. So imaginative!
Just when you think the bad guy is dead, the monster is dead and so the creepy Insect infestation and the ripping their own throats out horror should be at an end and everyone can now make nice and be friends…. we get that ending with a whole new batch of creepy insects out there & all aliances shattered. Ugh need book 2
4.5/5 stars definitely
This book is amazing. I adored it. The plot is strong, the characters are amazing and we get so much history on what happened in Shanghai during the 1920s. I had so much fun reading this.
All the Romeo and Juliet elements were so well planned. The multiple perspectives really added to the story and the writing was superb. I loved Kathleen and Benedikt and that we got some insight into these characters as well. Iβd just wish there would have been a bit more on them. But maybe weβll get that in the sequel! I CANNOT WAIT. Thta cliffhanger is making me want the book right now ?. How am I supposed to wait till november help!